PMac Fitness, real name Peter Maciver, is a celebrity personal trainer and respected fitness influencer. He encourages people to live an active lifestyle and has helped men and women of all ages and sizes reach their fitness goals. He details his five weight loss rules in his column.
1) There is no big secret to weight loss
I’m often asked by people, “what’s your secret?”
Well, it’s simple: you need to burn more energy than you consume.
Anything you eat you need to give out more energy.
That can be through exercise, walking, going to the toilet.
2) One of the most important tips to successful weight loss (which people often neglect) is to rest and recover
Trying to work out on a dead battery won’t help you lose weight.
There have been countless studies that prove that people who don’t sleep enough, don’t lose weight and can actually hold on to weight.
You can use sleep trackers and apps, personally, I’m a big fan of SleepHub because it has different sound settings which help me sleep.
I’ve been using it for around six months and it’s definitely improved the quality of my sleep. You can select the optimum sleep of eight hours and it wakes you up from when you hit the button as you’re going to bed.
The alarms wake you up gradually so you feel properly awake by the time you wake up, rather than groggy-headed.
3) I don’t believe in diets and restrictive eating
Your food intake needs to become your way of life rather than a “diet”. Diets are often extreme and unsustainable.
I recommend eating a low to medium GI diet.
Food that is low on the Glycemic Index keeps blood sugars steady and releases energy from carbs slowly throughout the day so the body can use it as fuel.
4) Aim to do 10,000 steps or more per day (especially if you don’t have an active job)
The best way to do this is to get a sports watch so you can monitor it accurately and see via an app on your phone how many steps you have done.
A more active person will always lose weight quicker than someone who isn’t active, 10,000 steps should take around 1 hour 30 mins so you could break that up to 30 mins in the morning before work, 30 mins at lunchtime, and 30 mins after work.
Get off the bus early, leave your car at home! Get off the tube a few stops early and walk.
It’s very motivating and satisfying when you hit your target every day.
5) Pay to workout
Get a gym membership, employ a personal trainer, join a yoga class, or any physical membership as paying for these services should help to keep you accountable.
If you can join with a friend or partner for extra motivation- even better.
Book your classes for the week ahead and try and stick to them rather than booking day by day.